With Vengeance (17 page)

“You won’t find out unless you ask him,”
Kinley said. “Though I might have a guess on why he didn’t say
anything before you joined the band.”

Kat paused in her trek across the deck.
“Oh?”

“Think about it.” Her friend’s tone turned
conspiratorial. “Why would he want any of his tech clients to know
he was a famous rock star? Especially clients who run a metal fan
site.”

Relief filled Kat at the logical and
non-sinister explanation. Of course he’d want to keep his celebrity
status under wraps. “That makes sense.”

“Wait, did he ever say anything about
Bleeding Vengeance when you two were doing work on the site?”
Kinley’s voice turned dire. “Because if he was sneaking in extra
promotion or endorsements…”

“No, he never brought up his band until I
told him about the audition.” Kat’s eyes narrowed. “The audition
that
he
set up in the first place.”

“And how did he respond to that?” Kinley
asked.

“He congratulated me and pretended to be
surprised.” Kat’s voice was subdued in embarrassment.

The phone was silent for practically an
eternity.

“So,” Kinley finally asked, her voice quiet.
“Does he still make your lady parts quiver?”

“Yes.”
More than ever
. “But I’m still
confused and kinda irritated that he didn’t tell me he was IT Guy.”
Kat sighed. “But I also don’t think he’s keeping it secret for
nefarious reasons.”

Kinley snorted. “Nefarious. You’re such a
nerd.”

“No, I mean it.” Kat leaned against the deck
railing and peered down at the trees. “He’s been nothing but kind
to me since I got here. Like I said, when my car broke down, he
towed it to his house to fix it, he cleaned his house and made up a
nice room for me, and when I accidentally ate a pot cupcake—”

“You
what
?”

Kat sighed and backtracked, explaining what
had happened. “Anyway, he felt so bad, and when I had a panic
attack he sent the other guys away and held me and comforted me
and…he kissed me.” Saying it aloud made her chest tight with
exhilaration.

“Holy shit!”

“Yeah, but then he stopped and said we
couldn’t do it, not in my condition.” Part of her cursed that
chivalry as much as she admired it. “And since then he’s been
acting like nothing happened.”

“Hmmm.” The sound of Kinley’s pacing halted.
“So, you have the hots for Klement Burke, and I always thought you
had a connection with IT Guy because you spent so much time
chatting about stuff other than the website.” She paused a moment.
“Dude, it’s like you have a crush on both Bruce Wayne and
Batman!”

Kat laughed. “Now who’s a nerd?”

“My point still stands.”

“When you put it that way, it
is
a
good point.” Having IT Guy and Klement at the same time in the same
body seemed like the best of both worlds. Although, she didn’t
really
have
him. He was still pretending their kiss never
happened.

“So what are you going to do?” Kinley
prodded.

Kat shrugged, even though her friend couldn’t
see. “I don’t know. I guess I’m just going to wait for now and see
if he’ll tell me.”

“I think you should talk to him.”

Kat sighed. “I know, but what if he gets
mad?”

“What the hell does he have to be mad about?
You didn’t keep any big secrets from him,” Kinley practically
shouted. “Jesus, Kat, you need to quit being so scared of
confrontation.”

“I know,” she agreed, a bit sullenly. “I’ll
talk to him about it as soon as the right opportunity comes.”

“Wimp.” Kinley snorted. “Anyway, I gotta go.
I need to upload my post about Thrashfest. The record company
donated tickets for us to have a giveaway.”

“Oh my God, that’s awesome!” Kat almost told
her goodbye, but then she remembered what Klement had asked. “Hey,
you didn’t tell anyone that I’m in the studio with Bleeding
Vengeance
,
did you? Or Quinn?”

“No, why?”

“Klement thinks that maybe an angry fan is
tampering with my car and fucking with Cliff.”

“Wait, your car was tampered with? And what
do you mean someone’s fucking with Cliff?” Kinley’s voice was
strident with alarm.

“Oh yeah, I didn’t get the chance to tell
you. Someone put sugar in the tank. We also found out that someone
slashed my tire. And someone sent Cliff a dead cat.”

The phone was silent for an endless moment.
“Whoa. That’s fucked up.”

“I know.”

“No, I mean seriously.” Urgency leaked from
the phone. “You guys should call the cops.”

“Klement did,” Kat assured her.
“Unfortunately, there’s not much they can do without any leads, but
they’ve been sending a patrol car by his house and the studio
regularly.”

“Okay, that’s good. You should stick with
Klement and the guys. To hell with his weird hidden identity, this
is more important. And don’t go anywhere alone until the bastard
who’s messing with you is caught.”

Pure fear laced Kinley’s voice, and Kat
understood. After being poisoned by a jealous roadie and suffering
online attacks, who could blame her?

“I will, don’t worry,” she promised her
friend. No way in hell was she going anywhere without Klement.

Kinley’s relief was palpable. “Good. I expect
a full update when I see you at Thrashfest.”

Kat blinked. “What? How did you know they’re
going to let me play?”

“Because they would be crazy not to. And
because Klement owes Quinn big-time.” Kin laughed. “But now that I
know he was our IT Guy all along, I get why he was so quick to
accept you as payment of the debt.”

Kat grinned, pleased that Kinley had come to
the same conclusion.

They said their goodbyes, and Kat paused
before going back into the house. The weight on her shoulders was
much lighter after talking to Kinley. Now she was completely
reassured that, whatever the reasons for Klement’s keeping his
identity secret, he must have good ones. And she would indeed
follow Kin’s advice and stick close to him. With his kindness,
intelligence, and strength, he made her feel safe.

Leaning out over the deck railing, Kat closed
her eyes and came to a decision. Eventually she’d muster up the
courage to confront him about his secret. But just in case he
reacted badly, there was something else she wanted to do first.

***

Klement frowned as he watched Kat scrub the
air-cleaner housing.

She’d been quiet and, well,
twitchy
all day. At first he’d thought she was mad at him until he came
downstairs with Cliff and Rod. She’d given him a brilliant smile
that warmed him to his toes. A smile that made him feel like they
were the only two people in the house and they hadn’t seen each
other in ages instead of only minutes. But once they were back in
the garage to work on the car, she was just as shaky and quiet as
she’d been that morning.

Maybe his talk about the dead cat and the
possible connection to the creep who’d messed with her car
triggered the anxiety. Although he hated seeing her fear and
revulsion about the news, she needed to know what was going on.

He glanced back at her, and she looked up and
then quickly averted her eyes. The awkward silence was making
him
twitchy.

“How did your talk with Kinley go?”

Her face turned bright pink. “Um, okay.”

“Did you tell her about your car?”

“Yeah. And she and Quinn have kept quiet
about me working for you guys. She’s really freaked out about me
and Cliff being stalked.” Kat peered up at Klement through lowered
lashes then added quietly, “She said I should stick close to
you.”

His body agreed wholeheartedly, though it
wanted a different sort of closeness than Kinley was suggesting.
“Yes, you should.”

Kat’s dark eyes met his, and her lips parted
a moment as if she were about to say something, and then they
closed. “Do you think we’ll have the car going by tonight?” she
finally asked.

Klement shook his head. “No, we still have to
wait for that injector to come in. Also, we have to replace that
tire. You don’t want to be driving on these roads on that spare.
It’s bald as shit. For another thing, I want to check out the
layout of the studio’s security cameras so we can figure out where
you should park.”

“Okay.” Only a touch of disappointment laced
her voice before she perked up. “So I’m riding with you again
tomorrow?”

He nodded.

She seemed pleased with that prospect, at
least. Some of his tension abated at the sight of her smiles and
the return of the comfortable kinship they shared, and so he said,
“I’m starving. Let’s go get washed up and figure out dinner.”

They went into the house and entered the
kitchen. As they rounded the corner, Cliff turned from rummaging in
the cupboards. His dark gaze swept Kat’s oil-stained clothes and
blackened hands, and he smirked. “I liked what you were wearing
last night better.”

Klement bit off a retort, while Kat gave
Cliff the finger then wandered to the sink to wash her hands.
Klement silently cheered her confidence then joined her, reaching
for the bottle of dish soap.

By the time they’d washed up, Cliff pulled a
tray of taquitos out of the oven. They all sat down and devoured
the meal with the righteous hunger of a hard day’s work.

Cliff glanced over at him. “Did the cameras
you planted in my car yield up anything?”

Klement shook his head. “Only one guy walked
by, and he was too far away to tell whether he was scoping out the
car or just passing through.”

“So my car’s safe then?”

“I wouldn’t say that. I just know you weren’t
followed last night.” Klement broke a few pieces off of one of his
taquitos and fed them to the cats at his feet. “So, like I said
before, keep an eye out for anything suspicious.”

Kat rose from the table with an empty plate
and put it in the dishwasher. “I’m gonna go shower and do some more
work on the website.”

“Ooh, can I watch?” Cliff said.

Without blinking, Klement reached across the
table and punched him.

“Ow!” The singer rubbed his arm and looked
up. “What the fuck, man?”

Klement didn’t answer. He left the table and
headed up to his office. He needed to get that update done with
Kat.

Scooping up his laptop and phone from the
desk, he then went back down to his grow room where she wouldn’t be
able to hear him. Setting the laptop on the table next to the
clones, he turned off the ventilation fans and opened up his email.
Sure enough, there was one from Kat asking to schedule a call.
Pulling his phone from his pocket, he dialed her number.

“Hi, IT Guy.”

He frowned. Her voice sounded…off. Was she
mad that he hadn’t gotten back to her quickly enough?

“Sorry it took me so long to call. Are you
ready to run that update?”

“Sure,” she said crisply.

He logged in to her site and did his thing,
but she remained quiet instead of offering up their usual flowing
conversation and banter.

“Are you okay?” Klement asked. “You seem
kinda down.”

“I’m fine. Just really immersed in my new
job.” Again, however, she sounded doubtful.

“They’re not working you too hard, are
they?”

“No!” She sounded unnaturally defensive. “I
love it, I really do.” Sincerity rang in her voice. “I’m just
trying to focus on doing my best. And I have a lot on my mind.”

He didn’t like the uncertainty radiating from
her. His instincts screamed to fix whatever was wrong, but his
common sense knew that was a bad idea. “Anything I can help
with?”

Unbelievably, she laughed. At least
that
was a cheerful sound. “Actually, you probably can, but
I need to figure out some things on my own before I bother you with
them.” There was another heavy pause. “But now I gotta go. I need
to practice if I’m going to be stage-worthy.”

“I know you will be, Kat,” Klement said
fervently. “I believe in you.”

“You have no idea how much that means to me.
Bye, IT Guy.”

But even the goodbye sounded uncertain, like
she’d wanted to say more.

The next day at the studio brought a return
to Kat’s unbalanced demeanor. Several times she messed up her riff
and they had to start over, and Klem grew dizzy at the myriad
emotions playing across her face: humiliation, self-scorn, and
determination. After the sixth take on the first song, he threw off
his headphones and gestured for her to follow him outside.

She was shaking like a leaf as she met him
out in the rear parking lot. Slowly, so as not to startle her, he
reached out and placed his hands on her shoulders.

“Relax, you’re not in trouble.” Unbidden, his
fingers kneaded her tense muscles, willing her panic away. “Take
some deep breaths and tell me what’s going on.”

Her mouth opened and closed a few times as
thoughts raced visibly across her face. Finally, her shoulders
relaxed. “It’s nothing. I’m sorry, I just need to focus.”

“There’s definitely something.”

“Yeah, but it’s…” She broke off, and the
blush returned to her cheeks. “I’ll tell you later, okay?”

An embarrassing thought came to him. What if
she was having lady problems? If so, he was being a complete ass
for prodding her. But he’d always been relentless in figuring out
his bandmates’ issues so that he could help them fix whatever was
bothering them. “That’s fine. Do you feel okay to go back in?”

“I think so.”

He gave her a reassuring smile and patted her
on the back. “Good. And I think you’re going to nail this song this
time. I know you can do it.”

“I’ll try. I’m sorry I’ve been screwing up so
much today.”

Was it his imagination, or did she lean into
his hand?

Cliff and Rod waited in the small lobby
nursing coffees. Thankfully, they didn’t look annoyed with Kat.
Wise of them, because if they had Klement would be the first to
point out their own past fuckups.